In Florida, it's easy to get license to carry gun

Some criminals qualify for concealed weapons

a sheriff says the system is broken.

January 28, 2007|By Megan O'Matz and John Maines, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Garth F. Bailey of Pembroke Pines pleaded no contest to manslaughter in 1988 for shooting his girlfriend in the head while she cooked breakfast. Eight years later, the state of Florida gave him a license to carry a gun.

John P. Paxton Jr., then of Deerfield Beach, pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse in 1993 for grabbing his 4-year-old nephew by the neck, choking and slapping him for flicking the lights on and off. Eight years later, the state gave him a license to carry a gun.

John M. Corporal of Lake Worth pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 1998 for pulling a small, chrome revolver from his waistband and placing it against his roommate's head during an argument. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to another crime: grand theft. In February 2006, the state gave him a license to carry a gun.

Across Florida, the state has given concealed-weapon licenses to hundreds of people who wouldn't have a chance of getting them in most other states because of their criminal histories. Courts have found them responsible for assaults, burglaries, sexual battery, drug possession, child molestation -- even homicide.

In an investigation of the state's concealed-weapon system, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found those licensed by Florida to carry guns in the first half of 2006 included:

More than 1,400 people who pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies but qualified because of a loophole in the law.

216 people with outstanding warrants, including a Tampa pizza deliveryman wanted since 2002 in the fatal shooting a 15-year-old boy over a stolen order of chicken wings.

28 people with active domestic-violence injunctions against them, including a Hallandale man who was ordered by a judge to stay away from his former son-in-law after pulling a handgun out of his pocket and telling the man: "I'll blow you away . . ."

Six registered sex offenders.

"I had no idea," said Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson, who sits on an advisory panel for the state Division of Licensing that issues concealed-weapon permits. "I think the system, somewhere down the line, is broken. I guarantee you the ordinary person doesn't know [that] . . ., and I'd venture to guess that 160 legislators in Florida don't know that either."

The National Rifle Association, the prime mover behind the state's nearly 20-year-old concealed-weapon law, says it is the court system that is broken -- not the gun-licensing system.

The problem rests with gaps within law enforcement and with "bleeding-heart, criminal-coddling judges and prosecutors," said Marion P. Hammer, Tallahassee lobbyist for the NRA and its affiliate, the Unified Sportsmen of Florida.

"What you need to understand is the NRA and the sportsmen's group are law-abiding people," she said. "We don't want bad guys to have guns."

But the Violence Policy Center, a national nonprofit group dedicated to reducing gun violence, studied Florida's concealed-weapon program in 1995 and concluded that it "puts guns into the hands of criminals."

"The people who are intimately familiar with these laws -- the people at the NRA -- they know exactly what's going on," said Kristen Rand, the center's legislative director. Florida's gun lobby and the program's administrators "know they're permitting some bad people, but they don't want the general public to know that."

Last summer, the Legislature made it even harder for the general public to find out. It made the names of licensed gun carriers a secret.

Pistol-packin' paradise

Nationwide, Florida has long been considered a gun enthusiasts' paradise. In fact, Florida often is referred to as the Gunshine State.

The label dates to 1987, when the state passed a law to "ensure that no honest, law-abiding person who qualifies" for a license to carry a gun would be denied the right. The legislation became a national model for so-called "shall-issue" concealed-weapon laws.

The licenses enable people to carry handguns -- hidden usually under clothing or in a purse or briefcase -- in most public places.

"We need to send a strong message to criminals in the state of Florida that the next time you rob someone or rape them or try to kill them, that they very well may be armed, and they very well may be able to protect themselves," former state Rep. Ron Johnson, a Panama City Democrat and bill sponsor, argued on the House floor nearly 20 years ago.

At the time, counties had differing rules for who could or could not get a license to carry a gun.

Under the 1987 law, the rules became uniform statewide. People who wanted to carry a gun didn't need a reason other than basic self-protection.

The numbers skyrocketed. Before the law took effect, 25 people in Broward County had concealed-weapon licenses. As of Dec. 31, 2006, there were 35,884.

During the same time, in Orange County, the number of licenses went from 50 to 18,199.

Statewide, the numbers grew from fewer than 25,000 to more than 410,000 today.